ISSUE: Clean Air Report

Senate Blocks California Vehicle Rules Via CRA, Sparking Major Fallout

The Senate has approved resolutions to scuttle preemption waivers for three major California vehicle emissions programs using the Congressional Review Act (CRA), triggering sweeping consequences for state efforts to curb air pollution and sparking questions about how they might respond in court or with alternative policies. Republicans focused much of their political messaging on the Golden State’s Advanced Clean Cars II (ACC II) program, which includes a 100 percent zero emissions vehicle (ZEV) sales mandate by 2035, though the CRA...

Congress Disapproves Biden Air Toxics Source Reclassification Rule

The House has joined the Senate in voting to disapprove the Biden EPA’s rule that restricts the ability of major air toxics sources to reclassify as more lightly regulated “area” sources, clearing the way for signature by President Donald Trump, though environmentalists warn that EPA will face litigation over efforts to revive its 2020 rule on the issue. The House May 22 voted 216-212 to approve S.J. Res. 31, a disapproval resolution under the Congressional Review Act (CRA) that once...

Eastern States Face ‘Severe’ Ozone Due To Trump Rollbacks, Officials Fear

States in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic might for the first time be facing “severe” nonattainment with the latest federal ozone standards due to the Trump EPA’s rollbacks of Biden-era air rules for stationary and mobile sources, a dynamic that would force states to adopt tougher pollution controls and possibly penalty fees on local industry. A key factor, sources say, are Trump administration plans to end the Biden EPA’s flagship interstate air emissions program, the Good Neighbor Plan (GNP), which is...

Environmentalists Sue EPA Over Iron And Steel Air Toxics Rule Freeze

Environmentalists are suing EPA over its decision to freeze implementation of a Biden-era regulation tightening emissions controls for iron and steel production, while the agency reconsiders issues raised by industry petitioners, but seemingly ignores several complaints raised by environmentalists in their own petition for reconsideration. In a lawsuit filed May 16 in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, Gary Advocates for Responsible Development, Hoosier Environmental Council, Just Transition Northwest Indiana and Sierra Club seek review...

EPA’s Texas Air Plan Approval Revives ‘Project Accounting’ NSR Debate

EPA’s approval of a Texas air quality plan is reviving discussion over the agency’s “project emissions accounting” (PEA) rule that sought to ease new source review (NSR) permitting for industry, even as the underlying policy is subject to ongoing litigation and environmentalists continue to criticize the rule. In a May 19 Federal Register notice , EPA gives final approval to a Texas state implementation plan (SIP) for attaining National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) that contains terms from the...

Padilla Puts Holds On EPA Nominees Over Attack On California Waivers

Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA) is placing procedural holds on Senate consideration of four top EPA nominees, arguing the move stems from Republicans’ “reckless” attempt to revoke a trio of preemption waivers for California’s vehicle emissions programs via the Congressional Review Act (CRA). “This objection is a direct result of the agency’s cynical attempt to weaponize the [CRA] by attempting to submit as ‘rules’ three waivers issued to the State of California under the Clean Air Act (CAA),” Padilla said in...

D.C. Circuit Panel Appears Split On Litigation Over EPA’s ‘Green Bank’ Funds

A panel of D.C. Circuit judges appears split on whether to let stand a lower court decision that would allow recipients of $20 billion in grants under EPA’s “green bank” program to regain access to their awards, with at least one Trump-appointed judge signaling she is likely to rule in EPA’s favor. During May 19 arguments, Judge Nina Pillard, an Obama appointee, generally embraced claims from the grant recipients, while Judge Neomi Rao, a Trump appointee, indicated alignment with EPA...

5th Circuit Defines ‘Unclassifiable’ NAAQS Status In Texas Air Plan Reversal

The 5th Circuit is scrapping EPA’s disapproval of a Texas plan for meeting federal air standards, reversing its earlier opinion in a way that creates a new test that makes it easier to define areas as “unclassifiable” in terms of meeting those standards and thus not subject to additional pollution controls. The updated decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit is also notable in that it offers EPA less deference on technical matters, following a key...

Zeldin Pledges Swift Decisions On RFS Small Refinery Waiver Requests

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin is promising quick decisions on a large backlog of pending small refiners’ requests for waivers from renewable fuel standard (RFS) biofuel blending mandates, as pressure from the refining industry and allied lawmakers mounts to grant the waivers after the Biden administration refused all of them. Speaking to House appropriators at a May 15 hearing on the agency’s fiscal year 2026 budget, Zeldin said, “actually, none of these were getting approved at all in the last administration...

States Preview Air Pollution Impact Of Undoing California Vehicle Rules

Analysis recently provided to state and local air regulators is previewing the conventional air pollution increases that could result if Senate Republicans rescind preemption waivers for several major California vehicle emissions rules, even as political debate over the move has mostly focused on the rules’ effect on electric vehicle deployment. The analysis is included in an April 8 memo from the National Association of Clean Air Agencies (NACAA) to its members, and recently obtained by Inside EPA ’s Climate Extra...

EPA Air Office Restructuring May ‘Disrupt’ Ambitious Deregulatory Push

Even as some sources are acknowledging the logic behind the Trump EPA’s reorganization of the Office of Air and Radiation (OAR), some former agency officials are warning that the timing of the move will be “disruptive” and might undermine the administration’s aggressive push to rescind a suite of Biden-era rules this year. Administrator Lee Zeldin is serious in his ambition to complete already-announced policy rollbacks “this year,” one former agency air official says, but remaining staff at the agency will...

EPA Nears Release Of RFS Volumes Proposal, Cellulosic Target Reduction

EPA is nearing release of its long-delayed proposal setting biofuel blending targets under the renewable fuel standard (RFS) for 2026 and beyond, sending its draft plan for White House review alongside a final rule to reduce the RFS requirement for cellulosic biofuel for 2024 in line with a refining sector request. The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) began reviewing the RFS “Set 2” proposal May 14, alongside a draft final rule to partially waive the cellulosic biofuel...

Denka Suspends Production At Neoprene Plant Subject Of EPA Litigation

Denka Performance Elastomer (DPE) is suspending production at its Louisiana synthetic rubber facility that had been the subject of a high-profile Biden EPA Clean Air Act enforcement action and a civil rights investigation, as well as the justification for a successful delay in implementing Biden-era air toxics standards. The move comes even after the Trump administration dismissed the Clean Air Act “imminent and substantial endangerment” case that had been scheduled for trial last month, and after DPE successfully pushed to...

Climate Policy Skeptics Ramp Up Pitch To Scuttle Endangerment Finding

Conservative climate change policy skeptics are ramping up scientific and economic arguments for EPA to quickly and fully reverse its greenhouse gas endangerment finding and climate rules, highlighting claims that the agency is likely to weigh when it launches a process to re-examine the landmark 2009 risk finding. The early claims come as industry observers have been suggesting that EPA’s expected push to scrap the finding faces significant legal risk and could amount to a distraction from its deregulatory push...

Rehearing Requests Test EPA, State Powers On Interstate Emissions Issues

In a test of states’ and EPA’s Clean Air Act powers on interstate issues, Texas and industry groups are seeking en banc rehearing of an appeals court ruling that upheld the Biden EPA’s disapproval of the state’s plan for mitigating interstate ozone emissions, an EPA decision that paved the way for the now stayed Good Neighbor Plan (GNP). In a May 9 petition , Texas asks for rehearing en banc of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the...

House Republicans Ready Push To Scuttle EPA Rules, IRA Climate Grants

House Republicans are floating draft budget “reconciliation” legislation that seeks to scuttle EPA’s multi-pollutant vehicle emissions rule, claw back “unobligated” funding for dozens of environmental and climate programs at EPA and the Department of Energy (DOE) and speed permitting for major natural gas projects. Released on the eve of a House Energy & Commerce Committee markup scheduled to begin May 13, the legislation represents the panel’s first step in moving a reconciliation package expected to cut the programs to help...

Refiners Urge Court To Force ‘Mandatory’ RFS Cellulosic Volume Cut

A major refining sector group is asking a federal district court to force EPA into cutting its cellulosic biofuel blending requirement for 2023 under the renewable fuel standard (RFS), saying the move is required by the Clean Air Act, an argument that previews possible similar fights over required RFS volumes for 2026 and beyond. In a May 5 motion for summary judgment filed in American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM) v. EPA , the refining industry group asks the U.S...

Senate Democrats Blast EPA Plans To Shutter GHG Reporting Program

Senate environment committee Democrats are urging EPA not to end the agency’s Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program (GHGRP), arguing the 15-year-old data collection program was created pursuant to a congressional directive and that it bolsters U.S. competitiveness by enabling industry to prove it has lower emissions than overseas competitors. The Democrats “strongly urge you to halt your plans to shutter the GHGRP and related offices and to reinstate any functions already dissolved,” reads a May 7 letter to EPA Administrator Lee...

EPA Proceeds With Suit Over Biden Bar On Air Permit ‘Affirmative Defense’

EPA and industry challengers have elected to continue litigating an industry suit opposing a Biden-era regulation that barred use of “affirmative defenses” in air permits to shield facilities from civil liability or penalties in the event of malfunctions after appellate judges appeared inclined to either toss the case or side with petitioners. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in a brief May 7 order granted EPA’s earlier motion to remove the case from abeyance and...

Western States Ask EPA To Ease Air Law Compliance As Pollution Worsens

Western states are pressing EPA to ease compliance with the Clean Air Act as the region is torn between the need to meet growing energy demand while reducing rising pollution levels that they say are driven by increased heat, wildfire, natural sources and international emissions, outstripping the ability of local emissions cuts to reduce overall air pollution. In presentations to the Spring meeting of the Association of Air Pollution Control Agencies (AAPCA) held in Phoenix April 30 through May 2,...

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